Best electric coffee grinder for pour over coffee

If you’ve begun to make and drink pour over coffee regularly, you’ll probably already have realized the need for an electric coffee grinder – either to save you from aching arms, or from horrible blade-ground coffee. But where and how do you start choosing an electric coffee grinder?

The whole point of investing in an electric grinder is to get better quality coffee grounds from your precious beans, so it must be a burr grinder. That said, decide what features are your priority: is it variable grind size, noise, or programmability?

To help you out, we’ve put together a list of recommended electric burr grinders for the home – from the most basic to the most advanced – and listed their pros and cons.

Cuisinart DBM-8 Supreme Grind

A popular starting choice for most coffee drinkers, the Cuisinart DBM-8 features 18 different grind settings and allows you to dose from 4-18 cups’ worth of coffee.

There are quite a few drawbacks, however:

The grinder uses small flat burrs rather than conical burrs.

You’ll need to experiment with the different grind settings to learn how much to dose, since a change in grind size will also change the volume of grounds produced. You may frequently end up with wasted leftover coffee grounds.

It’s incredibly noisy, so much so that we could hear it running from outside the house. With its vibration and noise, we recommend that this only be placed on kitchen counters, not tables.

Bodum Bistro Electric Burr Coffee Grinder

Known for its tea and coffee equipment that are not only of decent quality but are also colourful and sleek in design, Bodum’s Bistro electric burr coffee grinder is no exception:

The bean hopper also acts as the adjustment dial for the 14 grind settings.

While the rubber-plastic material may not seem very solid, the Bodum Bistro works well during actual use. Truly a minimalist yet functional electric coffee grinder.

Breville Smart Grinder

Smack in the middle of this list is our pick for best electric coffee grinder. We like the Breville Smart Grinder so much that we’ve written an in-depth review: read it here!

The Breville smart grinder combines easy-to-use hardware with modern software for a truly smart grinder. For starters, it comes with 25 grind settings that you can adjust anytime…without having to recalculate the dosage according to grind size. The Breville’s Dose IQ technology automatically recalculates how much coffee you’ll need based on the grind size, but you can also calibrate this to your preferences.

On the practical end the Breville is also a people-pleaser, being exceptionally quiet and easy to clean. A burr cleaning brush is even provided. This is definitely the most user-friendly coffee grinder you can get.

Rancilio Rocky Coffee Grinder

Popularly known as the Rocky, this coffee grinder is as powerful as its name suggests. The 166-watt direct drive motor works extremely quickly and is doserless, so you get fresh and consistently sized coffee grounds every time. Some coffee nerds have also pitched the Rocky as a suitable cheaper alternative to commercial-grade machines like the Mazzer.

Unfortunately, what we didn’t like was that the grind settings didn’t go coarse enough, barely making it for Chemex but not quite coarse enough for a French press. The Rocky’s extremely consistent fine grind is excellent for making espresso coffee, but since we’re focusing on pour over coffee this is quite the deal-breaker.

Baratza Vario 886 Flat Ceramic Burr Coffee Grinder

The Baratza Vario, for home coffee enthusiasts, is top-of-the-line. Using 54mm ceramic flat burrs, the Vario provides the most consistent and accurate grind out of all those listed here. In fact, the Vario features no less than 230 grind settings (10 macro and 20 micro adjustments) for you to fine-tune your grind for all types of coffee.

In use, the LED display and grind timer makes for highly accurate dosing. The entire grinder, as one would expect from a machine of this price, is solidly built though the grounds collection area is slightly shallow.

We also love that the Baratza runs very quietly even with its powerful motor. Thanks to its comprehensive feature set, the Baratza Vario is ideal for brewing not just pour over coffee, but the occasional espresso as well. However, you only rotate among a few different coffees, then you won’t really need such a powerful grinder and may prefer the more straightforward grinders above.

Frankly, anything beyond this selection of excellent electric coffee grinders are commercial-grade equipment, and unless you’re a barista or café owner, these will more than satisfy your pour over coffee needs. If you have any feedback or recommendations on these coffee grinders, let us know.